Creo 3.0 first thoughts?

[dmartin]

I attended a Hands On Workshop yesterday, and today I'm really digging into it on my own computer (Dell M3800, 16 Gb RAM).

It's freezing (Creo Parametric Not Responding) on my computer. A lot. On simple stuff, like reorienting the model, and creating a boundary blend. We don't plan on deploying until testing M020 for a couple months at the earliest, but as it is on my computer, the user experience is too painful.

Anyone else play with it yet?

David R. Martin II

Senior CAD Application Specialist

Amazon

[BillChapman]

I did notice in the hardware specifications that OpenGL 4.0 or higher is required with Creo Parametric 3.0. Do you have a graphics card that supports this?

Bill Chapman
Email: -<">mailto:->
Tel: 708-496-3100 | Cell: 708-205-5705

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[mlocascio]

16 Gb RAM should be enough RAM- I hope?

[jer3d1]

Seeing some quirky behavior here too Dave,

Nothing like early Creo 1 (fortunately), there are a few things that I was not expecting though...

F000 me once, shame on you, F000 me twice, shame on me...


All the best,
Jered

[BenLoosli]

Can't be as bad as Wildfire 1 C000 when creating a cube would cause the application to crash.

[mlocascio]

Creating a cube would cause Wildfire I to crash? Maybe that is why all of
the companies that I worked for didn't have Wildfire I.



Mike Locascio

[STEVEG]

It actually says 'recommended' on page 2 of creo3_hw_notes.pdf. Not required. Did you see it as required somewhere? That would be typical of PTC if they had it both ways in different documents.

Steve G

[BillChapman]

Below is the statement in the Read me first document provided with Creo 3.0. However, it does seem odd this would be required, I would assume that without OpenGL 4.0 OIT is just disabled.


OpenGL Library
PTC Creo 3.0 requires a graphics cards supporting OpenGL 4.0 or later.

Bill Chapman
Email: -<">mailto:->
Tel: 708-496-3100 | Cell: 708-205-5705

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[Lohbauer]

Are your video drivers up to date?

[STEVEG]

So no Quadro FX 5xx cards which is what many of my users have. They only support 3.0. The company is not going to like that.

Steve G

[davehaigh]

Speaking of which, I've tried to find a way to report the graphics hardware using a script. Anyone have a clean easy way to get a report of the graphics card via the command line?
Version of the graphics driver would be helpful also.

David Haigh

[TomU]

Right. Here is the full statement:

PTC Creo 3.0 requires a graphics cards supporting OpenGL 4.0 or later.

[EricVidra]

Update your drivers to the latest (Nvidia 307.45) for FX540 ,FX550, FX560, FX580 now support OpenGL 4.2

We learned this the hard way with some users running outdated drivers going into Creo 2.0

Eric


"I am employed by Toyota but I am not speaking on behalf of the Company. These are my personal opinions only."

[davehaigh]

I did a quick search, and found this: (typed into a command shell)

C:\Users\haigh1>for /F "tokens=* skip=1" %n in ('WMIC path Win32_VideoController get Name ^| findstr ".") do set GPU_NAME=%n

:\Users\haigh1>set GPU_NAME=NVIDIA Quadro 3000M

:\Users\haigh1>set GPU_NAME=LANDesk Remote Control Mirror Driver

:\Users\haigh1>set GPU_NAME=Intel(R) HD Graphics Family

One problem it resets the GPU_NAME with each line of output. So when I echo the parameter it gives me the one I don't want.

C:\Users\haigh1>echo %GPU_NAME%
Intel(R) HD Graphics Family

David Haigh

[STEVEG]

I use this:
msinfo32 /report sysinfo.txt

Then this:
find "Adapter Description" sysinfo.txt >> vid_card.txt

I'm sure it could be put together but when I set up a new computer I write that file out for other info too.

Steve G

[DamianCastillo]

I never expect to run F000 as an official release. F000 is for internal testing, M010 is the only build I would consider installing for my users and this is only after I tested it to make sure things work. I am curious to see how much of the Menu Manager has been integrated into the UI. I think it's sad that we are still dealing with a UI element from Pre-Wildfire days.

[proed]

Hi folks

On the topic of getting computer specs via command line, for years I've run with this (examples below):

- Creo startup on each computer uses dxdiag to store the spec

- These spec files are processed

- The stats are presented in simple pie charts for graphics, processor, memory, language, etc

It all runs in the background, you just view the web-pages for the latest charts of specs. Occasionally clear out old specs for computers no longer in use.

Regards

Ed

DxDiag:

dxdiag /whql:off /t creo~%COMPUTERNAME%.txt

- copy these to common area

Process data:

for /F %%f in ('dir /b creo~*') do (

find "Card name:" < %%f >>log

find "Username:" < %%f >>log

etc...

)

[dgschaefer]

Anyone have a link that shows a complete list of what Nvidia cards & drivers do support 4.0? A quick search at Nvidia's web site didn't reveal anything.

My month old laptop with a K3100M is not listed on that doc linked below, but I certainly hope it would support 4.0.

--

[StephenW]

I searched for my quadro 2000 (about 2 years old) yesterday and in it's specs, it was listed as supporting 4.4

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[EricVidra]

If you navigate under support drivers there is usually additional information in a pdf release notes.

K3100M is OpenGL 4.4 with driver 340.52

[STEVEG]

What about a command to find what version of OpenGL a graphics card currently supports.

Steve G

[TomU]

Sure enough. Hardware notes says "recommended", Read Me says "required". I think I'll open a case and see what tech support has to say.

From the Hardware Guide: (

[STEVEG]

Tom,

If you open a case please let us know what they say. I am interested in what their answer will be.

I was just looking at the dell_creo3.pdf which has this note.



Creo 3.0 uses advanced OpenGL 4.0 capabilities that are necessary to support Order Independent Transparency - this functionality will not be available on systems with graphics cards which support OpenGL 3.x or earlier, such as Quadro FX.




I am in conversation with our IT dept. I am trying to coordinate with them how to go about updating if it is required. I am not saying we will be going to Creo 3 anytime soon. But I wanted to give them enough time to think about it and get it done.


Steve G

[TomU]

Here is the response from tech support:

To be precise, "Graphics Card that Support OpenGL 4.0 are recommended for Creo 3.0. Not compulsory". Creo 3.0 would still work if the graphics card does not support OpenGL 4.0 and runs on 3.2. If the user would like to make use of the newer graphics enhancements like Order Independent Transparency (OIT) functionality (To know more about OIT, please refer CS116210<),">https://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS116210>), then they should use a graphics card that supports OpenGL 4.0 version.
Tom U.

[RonGrabau]

I have a tangent question on this. Which of these three options has the quickest display? Has anyone run Ocus with each of these settings to see if there is a difference?

Ronald B. Grabau
HP PDE-IT
Roseville, CA
916-540-3074
-<">mailto:->

[TomU]

I'd have to dig through the trail file (or ask Olaf), but I highly doubt the OCUS benchmark is ever turning on OIT.

Tom U.

[TomU]

Since tech support said it's not "required", I asked them to change that statement in the Read Me document. Here was their response:

"After sending my last email, I had a quick chat with one of our internal contacts on this. It seems that they would prefer to keep that statement in the Readme.pdf. Cause, they would like our customers to upgrade their existing card graphics drivers to a version that supports OpenGL 4.0 as it is "highly" recommended to have the best utilization of Creo 3.0 graphics related enhancements.

In Creo 3.0 they made OpenGL 4.0 as the core. So, having a card that supports 4.0 is highly recommended. But, Creo 3.0 would still run if the card only supports 3.x versions. The internal contact also mentioned that most of the current day graphics cards are capable of supporting 4.0 or later. So, if the card manufacturer or vendor has a latest driver version that supports OpenGL 4.0, then the user could install it and make use of the latest enhancements in Creo 3.0.

If a Creo 3.0 user works on a machine that does not have a graphics card driver that supports OpenGL 4.0, then they will not be able to use OIT and will not be able to see the better display of advanced materials like GLASS, PAINT etc. applied to the 3D models."

Hopefully this will be helpful as you plan your upgrade paths.

Tom U.

[dmartin]

For the record, my issues may be more related to the Dell M3800 than Creo 3.0. I dropped my M3800 off with our IT department because it blue screens a lot. (Before the M3800, it had been years since the old BSOD.) The M3800 has a ton of graphics issues.

Both Creo Parametric 3.0 and Direct 3.0 appear to work fine on my old Lenovo W530.

David R. Martin II

Senior CAD Application Specialist

Amazon

[mheath]

My first thought is when the heck are they going to put Creo 3.0 on the Software Download web page?